Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
‘Pistorius must tell the truth’
Blade Runner could get lesser sentence if he testifies in mitigation, says expert
OSCAR Pistorius should display true remorse during his sentencing proceedings, a legal expert has said.
Playing open cards about what happened when he killed Reeva Steenkamp could save the disgraced athlete.
He could be given a lesser sentence than the prescribed 15 years for murder, said advocate Francois Botes SC, who also serves as an acting judge.
According to Botes, there are far more unanswered than answered questions regarding the circumstances under which Steenkamp died.
When he appears in court next month as a convicted murderer, Pistorius would not be able to escape a further stint in jail, Botes predicted. “In my view it will benefit his case if he decides to take the witness stand to testify in mitigation of sentence and to play open cards with the court.
“There are many unanswered questions regarding the morning his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp died.
“He should tell the court exactly what prompted him to pull the trigger. He should prove to the court and the people of South Africa that he has true remorse.”
Botes said he did not believe the full version of what happened on the morning of Valentine’s Day 2013 had been placed before the court.
“If he played open cards and showed true remorse, he could, in my view, look at a sentence of between 10 to 12 years.”
Botes said it came as no surprise that nine Constitutional Court judges, led by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, turned down Pistorius’s leave to appeal.
“In my view, the application was flawed from the start and he stood no chance.”
March 3, meanwhile, proved not to be a good date for Pistorius; it was on this day two years ago that his murder trial began, as well as the date this week on which he received the bad news his last lifeline to escape jail had failed.
Pistorius’s hopes were dashed by the simple message from the registrar of the Constitutional Court, reading: “The Constitutional Court has considered the application for leave to appeal. It has concluded that the application should be dismissed for lack of prospects of success.”
The Steenkamp family welcomed the news their daughter’s killer would feel the full brunt of the law.
“They have always said they have faith in the South African justice system.
“They feel that the law must now take its course,” their lawyer, Tania Koen, said.
On the other hand, the Pistorius family has up to now kept mum about the news that Pistorius will have to return to jail.
Family spokeswoman Anneliese Burgess said the family was not ready to comment.
While times are uncertain for Pistorius as he does not know how long he still has under house arrest – at his Uncle Arnold’s Waterkloof mansion, the only certainty is that he will have to return to jail soon after April 18, when he next appears in the High Court.
Sentencing procedures lie ahead for the Blade Runner, during which his defence team is expected to pull out all the stops to convince Judge Thokozile Masipa not to sentence him to the prescribed 15-year term.
Pistorius can be fairly confident the court will take a year off any new sentence imposed on him, as he has already spend this time in the hospital section of the Kgosi Mampuru II Cor- rectional Centre in Pretoria.
This was while serving his sentence on a conviction of culpable homicide.
The Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein, when it replaced the High Court’s verdict with one of murder, recommended the trial court consider the year in jail when it again sentenced Pistorius.